Parade Float Ideashttps://paradefloats.wordpress.com
Ideas to Build Parade FloatsMon, 10 Apr 2017 09:26:52 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngParade Float Ideashttps://paradefloats.wordpress.com
How Not to Build a Losing, College Parade Floathttps://paradefloats.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/how-not-to-build-a-losing-college-parade-float/
https://paradefloats.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/how-not-to-build-a-losing-college-parade-float/#respondThu, 01 Aug 2013 09:42:27 +0000http://paradefloats.wordpress.com/?p=1079]]>It could be the Homecoming parade, a city-wide Halloween parade, or even a summer parade that’s showcasing local businesses, including colleges. Whatever the occasion, you surely don’t want to build a losing college parade float. Wow the crowd and make the parade watchers so excited about your school that they’ll stand up and cheer!

Start with a Theme and a BannerMaybe your float will simply be a celebration of your school, or perhaps you’ll want to focus on one particular group or sport, or even do something way out of the ordinary like an island or vampire theme. Feel free to get creative! Then, present the school’s name and theme of the float on a personalized banner. That way people can really see you coming and eagerly await to see what your float is all about.

It’s All About ColorOne way people will recognize you coming down the street is by your school colors. Deck your float out with floral sheeting and fringe in the school colors. After all, you’re proud of your school, so show it by splattering those colors all over your parade float. Make sure everyone participating in the float is dressed in school colors as well. If you’re going with a traditional school spirit theme, have them wear temporary tattoos and carry fan poms to create a crazy spirit-filled atmosphere.

Create a Focal PointColor and spirit aren’t enough to keep you from creating a losing college parade float. You’ll need a focal point, something that will catch everyone’s eyes and make them say, “Wow!” Maybe it’s a giant football that will attract everyone’s attention, or a big head cutout of the dean. Perhaps it will be your school mascot disco dancing on the float. Whatever it is, make sure it will either impress people or make them laugh.

Don’t Forget About SoundThe most obvious way to create sound for your float is by using the school’s marching band. If that won’t work, or the school doesn’t have one, blast some music from the truck pulling the float. The music can go with your theme, or you can play the school song on repeat. You might also want to alternate playing the school song with some chants from the school cheerleaders.

Give them Something to RememberDepending on the reason for your float, you’ll want to hand out something to parade watchers. Create cards for the event with the school’s web address and phone number and hand out to people watching the parade. Of course it wouldn’t hurt to hand out some candy as well. There’s no way your float will be a losing one if you’re handing out goodies to the crowd!

Get the Crowd Involved and They’ll Never Forget YouWhatever you do, get the crowd involved. There’s nothing worse than a parade float with no interaction from the viewers. Get them cheering, clapping, grabbing for candy, anything! Make them feel a part of your college parade float, and there’s no way anyone will think it’s a losing one.

With the big summer holidays drawing to a close, it’s time to start looking toward the fall holidays. Fall means the return of yearly festivals, celebrations, fairs, and parades! Here’s a list of ten must-attend parades and festivals.

Ten Must-Attend Fall Festivals and Parades

Iowa State Fair: Taking place in August and located in Des Moines, the Iowa State Fair not only has wonderful food, but also a livestock show and many other contests and competitions.

Aloha Festivals: A three-month-long statewide festival in Hawaii? What could be better than that? All the islands get involved in this massive celebration of art, music, dance, and food. Thinking about creating your own Aloha Festival? Look into grass skirts, flower hair clips, and realistic leis for guests at your festival.

Blueberry Festival: In Plymouth, Indiana, a four-day festival takes place over Labor Day Weekend in September. This festival draws more than 300 craft vendors from all over America as well as over 100 different food booths. There’s also a hot air balloon portion of the festival as well as a Labor Day Parade.

German Village Oktoberfest: This Columbus, Ohio festival is dedicated to food! With the traditional funnel cakes and kettle corn, there are also the German classics—brats, schnitzels, and sauerkraut. There are a variety of events to entertain everyone, including a tractor pull and a comedy show. You may see quite a few German alpine hats and steins— why not wear a hat of your own?

National Apple Harvest Festival: The first two weeks of every October in Arendtsville, Pennsylvania are occupied with this festival. In addition to all manner of apple-related activities, there is also a petting zoo, hay rides, chainsaw carving, and a variety of antiques (farm equipment and a cider press to name a few). The parade is made up of antique and classic cars.

Madison County Covered Bridge Festival: Another wonderful October festival, this is set in Iowa during the second full weekend. What sets this festival apart from the others is the quilt show, car show, and demonstrations by artisans of the old-fashioned ways of life. This festival is another with an antique car parade.

Circleville Pumpkin Show: Taking place in Circleville, Ohio, this festival not only boasts two pageants, a pumpkin pie eating contest, and a Great Pumpkin weigh-in, but also seven parades!

Missouri State Fair: Dating back to 1901, this state fair is one the biggest in the nation. There are concerts from many national acts, tractor pulls, shopping, races, and a farmers market.

Halloween Balloon Festival and Parade: In Galena, Illinois, 25 hot air balloons gather for an evening glow, an early-morning launch, and a parade on the last weekend of October. After the parade comes another evening glow, during which there is a trick or treat opportunity for the kids in attendance.

Johnny Appleseed Festival: In Fort Wayne, Indiana, this September festival includes the arts and crafts, food, and kids’ activities, but also shows living history with military encampment and a band of bagpipers making their way through the area.

There are a wide variety of festivals and parades all across our great nation—these are just a few! This fall, go explore your state and find a new festival or two!

It’s that time of year again! Memorial Day, summer vacation, it all means that the Fourth of July is right around the corner. With the Fourth come the parades—did you make a Fourth of July float for the parade last year? If you did, you’ll definitely want to make this year’s float better than last year’s. Here are a few tips that may help you…

Build Your Float One Step at a Time

Start with the basics—after you’ve found the perfect parade trailer and the right vehicle to pull it, you’ll need to search for the perfect decorations. If you want to go all out, decorate the car to match the trailer! The easiest way will be to get a car decorating kit and then focus on more detailed decorations for your float. You could also use a custom trailer decorating kit, but you could also get the individual float supplies, such as metallic or vinyl fringe, tissue festooning, and grass mats. You’ll want red, white, and blue, obviously, but make sure not to overdo it. Try combining it with silver—either use silver metallic fringe or silver festooning, then the other decoration in red, white, and blue. You could, for example, use silver metallic fringe (possibly more than one layer) along the bottom of your float and then twist together a strand each of red, white, and blue festooning to make a larger strand (or use a few strands of the already-combined red, white, and blue festooning), then wrap that around the rail along the trailer. Line the trailer bed with grass mats so the parade participants have something soft to stand on. Once your trailer has the basic decorations, you can have more fun with it.

Making Your Float Better

Now you can have some fun with the decorations. If you want to make a sign for your parade participants to hold during the parade, you’ll need Styrofoam letters. If you don’t want to keep these white, simply paint them with a water-based paint (acrylic, latex house paint, or latex spray paint will work, as long as the label reads H2O). You could paint the letters red and blue and put them on top of a background of white twistees. In addition to the sign, you could place bunches of balloons behind your sign holders.

The participants on the float who aren’t holding the 4th of July sign could either toss candy to parade observers along the route or have a little more fun with the holiday. With proper supervision, you could allow your float participants to have sparklers while you drive the parade route. Your participants could also toss handfuls of confetti into the crowd along the route while others toss the candy.

The most important thing to remember when planning your 4th of July parade float this year is that you want everyone, participants and spectators alike, to have fun at the parade. As long as you’ve accomplished that, your float, the parade, and the holiday have been a great success. Start planning now for the perfect 4th of July float!

Filed under: Float Decorating, Float Planning, Fourth of July Float, Parade Float Supplies, Parade Kits, Patriotic Float Tagged: Build a Better 4th of July Float]]>https://paradefloats.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/build-a-better-4th-of-july-float/feed/0paradefloatsSilver Metallic FringeRed White and Blue FestooningThemes for School’s Out Parade Floatshttps://paradefloats.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/themes-for-schools-out-parade-floats/
https://paradefloats.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/themes-for-schools-out-parade-floats/#respondWed, 01 May 2013 09:36:53 +0000http://paradefloats.wordpress.com/?p=1059]]>Whether it’s the teachers or the students, everyone who has spent the fall, winter and spring at school is ready for a break when summer hits. One super fun idea for celebrating the arrival of summer is a School’s Out Parade. Have different school clubs and even sports teams come up with their own floats for a crazy celebration of the end of the school year!

Here are some of our favorite, creative ideas for themes for School’s Out Parade Floats:

School Spirit Float

School may be out, but that doesn’t mean students and staff will abandon their spirit for their school. A school spirit float should be decked out in the school colors and embody the great spirit everyone has for their school. The Custom Trailer Decorating Kit is the perfect way to get started with this idea. This float should also have a personalized banner announcing the name of the club or group that is sponsoring the float. Of course, any great parade float is accompanied by people passing out candy. Have everyone involved in this float wear their favorite spirit attire and pass out candy to parade watchers along the road.

Senior Stars

Seniors are clearly the stars of the parade, as it will mark their final event before graduation. If your senior class has its own colors, decorate the float in those, or use the school colors. Depending on the size of the Senior class, consider writing each Senior’s name on a star, that way everyone is involved! Don’t forget the star banner, announcing the Senior class as the official “stars” of the parade.

Atlantis

The legendary city of Atlantis can be the most legendary float in the parade. Decorate your float in beautiful underwater colors like blue and turquoise. And don’t forget Atlantis staples like seahorses and chariots. Have members of the club or team dress up like their favorite sea creatures and have them blow bubbles so parade watchers will get the full underwater feel of Atlantis.

Music Mania

It could be the marching band, jazz band, choir, or those who participated in the musical. Music is everywhere at school, and a music mania float is simple and fun to do. Go with a black-and-white theme but add an exciting accent color like red or hot pink. Decorate your float with music note balloons and your accent color. If students don’t want to play their actual instruments, play some rock ‘n’ roll music and have participants jam out on their inflatable instruments. Everyone loves music, and a music float is sure to bring smiles to parade watchers.

Step Back in Time

Even in the 1920’s students were excited for school to let out for the summer, and with the upcoming movie release of The Great Gatsby, a Roaring 20’s themed float will definitely impress the student body. Have participants in this float wear their favorite flapper outfits and 20’s gangster clothes. Decorate the float in your favorite bright colors, and then place silhouettes of dancing couples from the 20’s in front. Be sure and have your favorite jazz music playing so the float will really come to life.

The right costumes, decorations and music can make any float spectacular for an end-of-the-year parade at school. What are some favorite “School’s Out” parade floats you’ve seen?